LINCOLN- On Friday, the Nebraska Supreme Court issued a 4-1 opinion in Joshua v. State that upheld certain immunity for employees of the state Department of Health and Human Services after three siblings alleged negligence after more than a decade of sexual and physical abuse in foster care. The opinion built upon the 2020 decision in Moser v. State, and overruled related cases as well.

Justices Jeffrey Funke and John Freudenberg did not participate in the decision. State lawmakers passed legislation this year that would have allowed individuals to bring lawsuits against political subdivisions, like DHHS, in cases of physical and sexual abuse, but the bill, introduced by Sen. Justin Wayne, was vetoed by Gov. Pillen. "We need a special session immediately to address this issue," said Wayne after the veto was announced.

At hand in Joshua v. State, as well as the now-vetoed legislation, is the Political Subdivisions Tort Claims Act, which forbids certain lawsuits against political subdivisions and upholds "sovereign immunity." A penned dissent from the court's longest-serving member, Justice Lindsey Miller-Lerman, argued that the court "overlooked an opportunity" to differentiate between immune child assault and nonimmune child assault.

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